Friends for Dinner celebratesThanksgiving and its 107th week

By Michael Riley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Friends for Dinner celebrated its 107 week on Oct. 11, over two years, and it's third Thanksgiving meal. Starting up in the summer of 2019 before COVID-19 shut everything down, this potluck meal that allows people to gather to share a meal and some companionship, play some games and get some advice and some sundry items to survive like sleeping bags and tents, started up again in 2024 and has been going strong ever since. It goes each week, rain or shine (or snow), all year long. Kevin Taylor, the founder and organizer of Friends for Dinner, comments to The Bancroft Times on this milestone. 

Gathering weekly on Sundays at Cenotaph Park from 5 p.m. to around 6:30 p.m. or so, community members from all walks of life can come by, enjoy a meal, and make some new friends or get reacquainted with some old ones, as the name suggests. 

Herb Doran is one of the volunteers that helps out. He says he missed a few times, but is usually there.

“I help set up and I bring a few salads every week,” he says. 

As the folks lined up for their Thanksgiving meal, Taylor took the floor and said a few words to everyone, wishing then Happy Thanksgiving and welcoming them to Friends for Dinner. 

“Oh my goodness, I'm so glad to see you. You should see the smorgasborg we've got going on tonight. We have much to be thankful for and I hope you all can find something to be thankful for, even for a few minutes. So anyway, we're going to dive in, and thank you Heavenly Father, we thank you for the food, the abundance of food. It was supposed to rain all week and it isn't. So continue to bring more people, bring more helpers, and bring more food. Lord all of it and we give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen!” he says. 

Jay, one of the volunteers, says she's been with Friends for Dinner for five months and loves it. 

“I was here a few weekends ago celebrating Kevin's second year here, and ever since I've been here I've met so many different people. It's been awesome,” she says. 

Margaret has been coming out for the past two years.

“I'm over at the chateau so it's easy for me to come across, except in the wintertime. But now I've met some friends here who can pick me up and bring me over, which is wonderful. It's all connections. If you're looking for somewhere to live, clothes, whatever, it's all here. It's fabulous,” she says.

Another of the volunteers, Sharon, who does all the dishes each week, says they give folks that come by real plates and real cutlery, so they have dignity and they recycle everything, so little to no carbon footprint. 

“The big misconception is that everybody here is unhoused. Not everybody here is unhoused. This is a real sense of community. Some people drop off food and some people are uncomfortable staying with people. We have a whole mixed bag and the fact that the town lets us do this. We follow all the regulations. I have a safe food handling certificate. But it's really important.  A lot of people here are seniors, people that live alone, it's a whole community of people young and old. It's really great. On average, I've never seen less than 50 people here. We're here every week, rain or shine, all year round!” she says. 

Taylor told The Bancroft Times that he thought Friends for Dinner on Oct. 11 went fantastically well.

“The extra donations of food and the few extra volunteers that were new really help. The head count was over 80, and everybody was fed well and many left with takeout containers full as well,” he says. “I thought it was fantastic!”